


wrong girl, wrong time, wrong place

by Magpied_Spider



Category: Bend It Like Beckham (2002)
Genre: Gen, the airport scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-05
Updated: 2016-09-05
Packaged: 2018-08-12 22:41:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7952044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Magpied_Spider/pseuds/Magpied_Spider
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Look. We all know how that airport scene should have gone.</p><p><em>Jules’s mum was folding something up and putting it in a bag; Jess didn’t make eye contact. She hadn’t had a conversation with Jules’s mum since the whole… </em> incident <em>… with the wedding and the shoes, and while Jules had squeezed her hand and told her that it was all fine, Jess didn’t want to push - or taint what would be their last moments with her parents for a few months with an argument.</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	wrong girl, wrong time, wrong place

**Author's Note:**

> title from _More Fool Me_

The list of instructions had been getting longer and longer, but it was just her mum’s way of dispelling the anxiety of letting her youngest daughter travel across the ocean, so Jess let the words wash over her, safe in the knowledge that all the numbers she was meant to call upon landing were already written down in a notebook, tuning out the specifics.

“... at least there’s some family close by.”

“‘Scuse me,” said the even voice of Jules’s dad, “it’s getting really late, you’d better board the plane.”

Jules’s mum was folding something up and putting it in a bag; Jess didn’t make eye contact. She hadn’t had a conversation with Jules’s mum since the whole… _incident_ … with the wedding and the shoes, and while Jules had squeezed her hand and told her that it was all fine, Jess didn’t want to push - or taint what would be Jules's last moments with her parents for a few months with an argument.

“ _JESS!_ ”

Joe was - not sprinting, he’d never sprint, not with his knee - jogging at a reasonable pace towards them. Jess felt a smile come to her face - she’d told him when the plane was leaving, but she hadn’t thought he’d actually come to see her and Jules off - and turned to close the gap between them.

“What are you doing here?”

He was smiling, but it flickered on and off his face as if he couldn’t tell if it was the right expression. “They offered me the job,” he said. “Coaching the men’s side. No more pulling pints.”

It was everything he’d been working for, but his voice didn’t have the enthusiasm that Jess would have expected. Still, she smiled for him. “That’s great, Joe--”

“Yeah,” he interrupted. “I turned them down.”

“Wh-- why did you--”

“They’re going to to coach the girls’ side,” he said, pride in his voice. “They want us to turn pro next year.” He gave her a look, and his eyes flicked off to the side, towards where Jules and her family were standing. “Can’t keep losing all my best players to the Yanks, now, can I?”

Even now that all the agreements had been finalised, the reminder that that was _her_ \- that _she_ was _one of the best_ \- still gave Jess a thrill.

“That’s brilliant, Joe,” she said, meaning every word. She took half a moment to wonder if she was in a position to make the next comment, but in terms of football, she’d confessed pretty much everything to _her_ family already. “You should tell your dad, you know.”

She didn’t quite turn the sentence into a question, but it had a softened end. It was a suggestion, not an indictment.

He looked down, as if he couldn’t face the question, only to contradict that with a quiet, “I already did.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Joe swallowed, but he seemed to want to tell her the result - so that she would know the outcome, just as he knew about how everything with her and her family had turned out. “He’s proud of me, he says.”

“He’d be daft not to, yeah?”

Joe smiled, raising a hand to rub his face. Pride, or embarrassment, or one of the strange mixes of the two that Jess was all too familiar with.

“Thanks for coming to see me off,” she said, edging a little bit towards the check-in gates. “I’ll call you, or email or something -- if I’ve got time in between training,” she added, “I’ve heard they go pretty hard out there.”

“Yeah, well, maybe after they’ve trained you up I’ll sign you,” he joked, adding a quick “If I can afford you,” which _really_ shouldn’t have sent another thrill of anticipation through her, for the future, for her _football future_ , but she couldn’t help it.

“Yeah, you _wish_ ,” came the quick reply, what could have been mistaken for arrogance by someone unfamiliar with her dispelled by the smile it was passed through and the giggle that followed.

God, the thought that she was _going to America_ , that she was _about to get on a plane and_ leave. It was almost as if it were a dream, but one Jess never wanted to wake up from.

He looked as if he were about to say something else, but the reminder of her imminent flight was enough to propel her forwards to give him a goodbye hug. It wasn’t as long as the one they’d shared on the pitch the night before, but it didn’t need to be.

“Hey,” he said, still soft, as she pulled away, “I know I said there wouldn’t be much point--”

“What with me going to America?” She’d been relieved that it had been him to be the one to say it, to be the one to suggest that what was between them - which basically amounted to an ill-advised almost-kiss and him looking out for the team as a whole by looking out for her in particular - would work better as a friendship than trying to pursue anything romantic. She hadn’t wanted to put her foot in her mouth and ruin the chances of that, and she’d been relieved when he’d hugged her and wished her luck.

Plus, there was Jules to consider.

“But I was thinking, well, even with the distance… and the concerns of your family…” Joe wasn’t searching for words, the thought came to her that he might have hashed it out while waiting in line for security, they had a considered air about them. “We might have something?”

He was leaning in, a little bit, and Jess didn’t want to do this, not again, not now, not with a plane to get to and everything new ahead of her, and especially not with Jules only ten meters away, because Jess knew who Jules would be jealous of in this scenario and it wasn’t her.

“You were right the first time,” she said, soft, but with firmness behind the words.

He nodded. There was disappointment on his face, but not much; he didn’t look to be dwelling on it.

It would have been easy to reply with something along the lines of “guess I should have seen that coming,” but he didn’t. He just said, “yeah, okay.” There was a moment of silence. “So I’ll--”

He was probably going to confirm email addresses or something, but was interrupted by Jules’s much stronger “ _Oh my God!_ ”

Jess turned to look at her, then followed the finger with which Jules was directing her father’s gaze. “It’s _Beckham!_ ”

Anyone looking at Joe’s face as Jess turned away would have seen a flash of something on his face - mentally kicking himself, perhaps.

Beckham was walking along above, preceded by a camera and someone holding a microphone, and something told Jess that if they stayed in London, they’d end up seeing a few seconds of the shot on the evening news.

“Jess! It’s Becks!” Jules repeated, turning to face them, making sure they’d heard.

They trotted up to the group as Beckham turned the corner and out of sight.

Jules’s grin was infectious, and Jess gave a laugh. “Maybe he’s come to join the party.”

“Well, you know what they say,” Jules replied. “He’d make it a crowd.” She might have said _three_ , but either worked.

“We’re back at Christmas,” Jess reminded their families - her mum had a tissue already - and she looked at Joe especially.

“Jules?” Joe looked at her, and there wasn’t a flare of awkwardness that could have come between them, and they gave each other a hug. “Play well,” he said. “Keep your head up.”

Jules raised an eyebrow at him as she gave him a smile, then turned to give her mum and dad a final kiss goodbye. Jess did the same.

The two of them walked through the gate, turned to give one last wave to their parents - their dads shaking hands, introducing themselves for the first time, their mothers with tears already starting to come out.

Jules nudged Jess, waggled her free hand at her side, and Jess, with a laugh, took it.

The future was bright, and they were going there together.


End file.
